Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Mumbai ride on Ajinkya Rahane's knock to enter final

BENGALURU: Mumbai have been at their dominant best with their batters calling the shots in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The lone blemish in their campaign has been the loss to Kerala in the league phase. On Friday, Ajinkya Rahane (98, 56b, 11x4, 5x6) continued his imperious form to help Mumbai overpower Baroda by six wickets and book a place in the final.
In the title clash, Mumbai will be up against Madhya Pradesh who cantered past Delhi by seven wickets.
At the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, chasing a modest target of 159, Rahane looked in a hurry. The former India captain smashed Baroda pacer Lukman Meriwala for two fours and a six off the first three balls. The attack set the tone for Mumbai despite Prithvi Shaw's dismissal in the third over.
The ease at which Rahane belted Baroda bowlers was a sight to behold. The player pulled, cut and lofted bowlers with ease. He raced to 41 after six overs with skipper Shreyas Iyer enjoying the show from the other end. But the latter too gradually began to punish Baroda bowlers, who were too short and Iyer hammered them over the midwicket fence.
Iyer, who coasted to 46 with four fours and three sixes, fell to Atit Sheth in the 13th over. But the 88-run second-wicket stand had already done the damage. With less than six runs required from the last seven, Rahane could sight a ton and dealt in sixes. In the end, he fell just two short as he was dismissed by Abhimanyu Rajput. In the next over, Suryansh Shedge applied the finishing touches hitting the winning six as Mumbai were home with 16 balls to spare as the in-form Baroda outfit had an off day.
"For me, it's always about timing the ball. It's always about the extension of my defence. Even though I'm playing at a strike rate of 190-200, it's still classical batting," Rahane said.
Earlier, after a second-wicket association of 50 runs between Krunal Pandya and Shashwat Rawat, Baroda fell flat. They collapsed from 73/1 to 89/5, which included the big wickets of Krunal and Hardik Pandya. Despite Shivalik Sharma's (36, 24b, 2x4, 2x6), they ended up with a below-par 158/7.
Patidar, Bhatia shine in MP win
Madhya Pradesh skipper Rajat Patidar (66, 29b, 4x4, 6x6) led the way with Harpreet Singh Bhatia (46, 38b, 4x4, 2x6) to guide their team to victory in the second semifinal played under lights. MP, who were chasing 147 runs, were reduced to 46/3 after Ishant Sharma's (2/12) early strikes.
However, the unbeaten partnership of 106 for the third wicket between Patidar and Bhatia tilted the game in MP's favour, who won with 26 balls to spare. As for Delhi, their batters failed to make their start count. Anuj Rawat top-scored with an unbeaten 33 while Priyansh Arya and Mayank Rawat chipped in with 29 and 24 runs respectively.
Brief Scores: Baroda 158/7 in 20 overs (Shashwat Rawat 33, Krunal Pandya 30, Shivalik Sharma 34 n.o; Suryansh Shedge 2-11) lost to Mumbai 164/4 in 17.2 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 98, Shreyas Iyer 46) by six wickets; Delhi 146/5 in 20 overs (Priyansh Arya 29, Anuj Rawat 33 n.o, Mayank Rawat 24; Venkatesh Iyer 2/12) lost to MP 152/3 in 15.4 overs (Harsh Gawali 30, Harpreet Singh Bhatia 46 n.o, Rajat Patidar 66 n.o; Ishant Sharma 2/12) by seven wickets